THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT: FAMILY THERAPY

Question 1

what is family therapy

Answer 1

Family therapy is a form of therapy carried out with members of the family with the aim of improving their communication and reducing the stress of living as a family.

Question 2

What approaches(when explaining schizo) does family therapy take into account and why

Answer 2

• the double bind and the schizophrenogenic mother, some therapists see the family as the root cause of the condition.

Question 3

What are therapists more concerned about now in family therapy and why explanation emphasises this

Answer 3

Nowadays, most family therapists are more concerned with reducing stress within the family that might contribute to a patients risk or relapse. In particular family therapy aims to reduce levels or expressed emotion

Question 4

what does family therapy aim to do (5)

Answer 4

• To educate relatives about schizophrenia.
  
  • To stabilize the social authority of the doctor and the family.
  • To improve how the family communicated and handled the situation.
  • To teach patients and carers more effective stress management techniques.
  • reduce levels of expressed emotion, and reduced the likelihood of relapse.

Question 5

what were the identified examples by Pharoah on how family therapy works (4)

Answer 5

It helps family members achieve a balance between caring for the individual and maintaining their own lives

it reduces anger and guilt

it improves their ability to anticipate and solve problems

forms a therapeutic alliance.

Question 6

what are the 4 methods used within family therapy

Answer 6

• Families taught to have weekly family meetings solving problems on family and individual goals, resolve conflict between members, and pinpoint stressors.
  
  • Preliminary analysis: Through interviews and observation the therapist identifies strengths and weaknesses of family members and identifies problem behaviors.
  • Information transfer – teaching the patient and the family the actual facts about the illness, it’s causes, the influence of drug abuse, and the effect of stress and guilt.
  • Communication skills training – teach family to listen, to express emotions and to discuss things. Additional communication skills are taught, such as “compromise and negotiation,” and “requesting a time out” . This is mainly aimed at lowering expressed emotion.

Question 7

What did Anderson et al find when comparing drug therapy with family therapy and both (+ve)

Answer 7

found a relapse rate:

- almost 40% when patients had drugs only
- only 20 % when Family Therapy
- Social Skills training were used and the relapse rate was less than 5% when both were used together with the medication.

Question 8

What Did Pharaoh et al find in their meta-analysis study on family therapy (2) (+ve)

Answer 8

meta - analysis

found:

- family interventions help the patient to understand their illness and to live with it
- developing emotional strength and coping skills⇒ reducing rates of relapse.

Question 9

Evaluate how family therapy is cost benefitical + what did NICE find (+ve)

Answer 9

• highly cost effective because it reduces relapse rates, so the patients are less likely to take up hospital beds and resources.
  
  • The NICE review of family therapy studies demonstrated that it was associated with significant cost savings when offered to patients alongside the standard care – Relapse rates are also lower which suggests the savings could be even higher